1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foot pedal for a drum in which the drum head of a bass drum is struck when the foot pedal is depressed with the foot and more particularly to a drum foot pedal which is designed so that the position of the beater of the foot pedal can be freely changed to suit the player.
2. Description of Related Art
A bass drum is generally equipped with a beater driven by a pedal driven mechanism. The pedal driven mechanism comprises a shaft, a pedal, a swivel member fixedly connected to the shaft, a chain connected between the pedal and the swivel member, and return spring means for returning the shaft after each pedal stroke. When playing different music, the beater may have to be driven to give different beating force to the face of the bass drum. However, because the amplitude of the beater is not adjustable, it is difficult to control the beating force of the beater accurately.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view which shows a conventional example of such a foot pedal for a drum. This conventional foot pedal may be described briefly as follows: the drum foot pedal 1 is equipped with a pedal frame 2 which is to be placed on the floor surface. This pedal frame 2 is made up of a frame main body 2A, a pair of left and right supporting columns 2B which are installed in upright positions on the upper surface of the frame main body 2A, and a heel 2C which is connected to the frame main body 2A via a connecting member 3, etc. A clamping member 6 which holds the tightening frame (or hoop) 5 of a bass drum 4 is attached to the frame main body 2A. A rotatable shaft 7 is provided between the upper ends of the pair of supporting columns 2B, 2B via bearings so that the rotatable shaft 7 is free to rotate, and a rocker 8 is attached to the center of the rotatable shaft 7. Furthermore, a beater 10 which strikes the drum head 9 of the bass drum 4 is provided on the rocker 8 via a beater rod 11, and one end of a pedal depressing force transmission member 13 which transmits the depressing force of a foot board 12 to the beater 10 is connected to the rocker 8. A timing belt, a flexible leather or plastic band, a chain, a linkage, etc. may be used as the pedal depressing force transmission member 13. The foot board 12 is formed as a flat plate of sufficient size to accommodate the foot. The front end 12a of the foot board 12 is connected to the other end of the pedal depressing force transmission member 13, and the rear end 12b of the foot board 12 is connected to the heel 2C via a shaft 14 so that the foot board 12 can pivot upward and downward. Furthermore, the upper end of a return spring 15 which imparts a pivoting habit to the foot board 12 in the return direction is connected to one end of the rotatable shaft 7 via a cam plate 16, and the lower end of this return spring 15 is connected to a spring receiving member 17 which is provided at the lower end of one of the supporting columns 2B.
Furthermore, reference 18 indicates a hoop fastening screw which presses the clamping part 6 against the hoop 5.
In the drum foot pedal 1 constructed as described above, the foot board 12 is ordinarily maintained at a prescribed inclination with the front end lifted as shown in the Figure by the spring force of the return spring 15. When a depressing force is applied to the foot board 12 in this state, the pedal depressing force transmission member 13 is pulled downward, and the beater 10 pivots along with the rotatable shaft 7 and strikes the drum head 9 of the bass drum 4. The maximum angle of depression of the foot board 12 in this case is approximately 15°. When the depressing force is removed from the foot board 12 after the beater 10 has struck the drum head 9, the foot board 12 is caused to pivot upward by the spring force of the return spring 15, so that the foot board 12 returns to its initial position.
However, in the conventional drum foot pedal 1 as described above, the beater rod 11 is merely fastened to the rocker 8 which in turn is fastened to the rotatable shaft 7 in such a manner that the length of the beater rod 11 can be adjusted. Accordingly, the pivoting angle of the beater 10 and the striking position of the beater 10 on the drum head surface is not adjusted freely. In this case, it is possible to attach the rocker 8 to the rotatable shaft 7 so that the rocker 8 can pivot relative to the rotatable shaft 7 so that the pivoting angle of the beater 10 can be changed.
In light of these drawbacks, several prior art attempts have been made to provide a beater assembly where the beater holder may be angularly adjusted on the rotatable beater shaft 7. However, these prior art adjustment system are limited to a single angular adjustment which limits the amount the position of the beater of the foot pedal can be changed to suit the player.